Article

Name: «THE ROSE AND THE CROSS» OF ALEXANDER BLOK

Authors: L. Szilárd

Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

In the section

Abstract: The article focuses on defining the specifics of the genre of Alexander Blok’s «The Rose and The Cross», as a transformation of the lyrical drama into an initiation mystery. This phenomenon is evocative of Rudolf Steiner’s theatrical experiments of «initiation mystery», (according to the diary notes of Blok, he was aware of these experiments but was not influenced by them), as well as of some corresponding tendencies in Andrei Bely’s prose and the conclusions of Viacheslav Ivanov concerning the link between drama and the ritual. The chronotope of «The Rose and The Cross» as well as the key elements of the Motive-Plot-Structure of the text reveal the fact that Blok had an immense knowledge of the starting points of the formation of Rosicrucianism. This made Andrei Bely rightfully conclude that A. Blok could have become a philosopher of culture, had he wished so.

Keywords: rosicrucianism, mariology, «joys and pains of life», black rose, black blood

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